Jose Nunez de Caceres

Jose Nunez de Caceres (14 March 1772-11 September 1846) was President of Spanish Haiti from 1 December 1821 to 9 February 1822. Nunez de Caceres was the architect of the short-lived independent state of Spanish Haiti (now the Dominican Republic), which was annexed by Haiti after two months; he then went on to become a politician in Venezuela and Mexico, where he died in 1846.

Biography
Jose Nunez de Caceres was born in Santo Domingo, Captaincy General of Santo Domingo in 1772, and he was raised in a very poor family. In 1799, the family moved to Camaguey, Cuba after Spain turned over control of Hispaniola to France, and Nunez de Caceres worked as a teacher in Havana. In 1808, after Spain reconquered Santo Domingo from the French at the start of the Peninsular War, Nunez de Caceres returned home and served as Lieutenant Governor, General Counsel, and as a Judge Advocate General. He denounced Jose Alvarez de Toledo's revolutionary views, but, during the 1810s, Nunez de Caceres began to change his views concerning independence. He went on to become an ally of Gran Colombia during the South American Wars of Liberation, seeking Santo Domingo's union with Colombia. However, Santo Domingo was forced to declare independence as "Spanish Haiti" on 1 December 1821 as the Colombians failed to respond, and Nunez de Caceres ousted the Spanish government and created a short-lived independent state. This new state was governed by a white elite, and the black slaves and servants instead favored union with Haiti, which had already abolished slavery, and which could hold off attempts at reconquest by France or Spain. On 9 February 1822, Jean-Pierre Boyer's Haitian army entered Santo Domingo, and Nunez de Caceres gave him the keys to the city. Nunez de Caceres then moved with his family to Maracaibo, Venezuela, and he worked as a printer in Caracas. He went on to serve as a secretary and adviser to Jose Antonio Paez from 1826 to 1827, and he left for Mexico as Simon Bolivar and Paez neared a confrontation. In 1833, Nunez de Caceres became a senator from Tamaulipas, and he became Treasurer of Public Finance in 1834. He died in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas in 1846.